Is Government Seriously Considering Taking Over Boledo and Lottery?

Is the Briceño administration seeking to rescind an exclusive license that was granted to Brads Gaming Group Limited in 2020 to conduct the Government Lotteries?  That question arises out of recent correspondences between the Lotteries Committee and B.G.G.L., whose managing director is Kim Chee. The most recent letter was written to Prime Minister John Briceño by legal representatives of Countach Technologies Limited, a shareholder in Brads Gaming Group Limited.  Since the company is registered in the Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory, it cites the Bilateral Investment Treaty between Belize and the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.  Attorneys for Countach put forward that should G.O.B. proceed to cancel the contract with Brads, it will constitute a wrongful interference with the company’s holdings, tantamount a seizure of its assets.  This morning, we spoke with P.M. Briceño who informed that a technical team, comprised of government’s lawyers, is closely monitoring the situation and recommendations will be made on the way forward.

John Briceño

Prime Minister John Briceño

“If you ask Belizeans, they think that the Boledo belongs to them.  But there is a contract and we have to live up to the contract that was signed by the previous government.  But in that contract, there are certain commitments that the company did and we found out afterwards, after our consultations, that they were not living up to all the commitments and we wrote to them last year and then to the end of this year, we wrote again to them saying well we believe that you still have not lived up to the commitments that you made in the contract.  And so, giving them an opportunity to respond as to why we should not cancel that contract.  I think that now they are… their attorney… I think, is the mother of all ironies that the former prime minister is going to be defending something like this and he knows that Belizeans would want for us to be able to benefit more from that.  So he has responded and now the technical team, the attorneys, they are looking at it and whatever recommendation they might give, then we will look at it as a Cabinet and make the final decision.”